To some, it can seem intimidating. To others, it is outdated and oppressive. Yet to those whose faces are shrouded beneath it, it can be a liberator, symbolising religious modesty in an increasingly secular West. To others still, it is nothing more than a piece of cloth.

The students going through the security gates at Birmingham Metropolitan College yesterday, some swathed from head to toe in black, were a stark reminder of how divisive the issue of the Muslim veil can be. For these women, identifiable only by their eyes, were at the heart of a debate that last week sparked a political row and this week has seen a Home Office minister calling for consideration of an outright ban in schools.

The future of the veil, Liberal Democrat minister Jeremy Browne told this newspaper, must be urgently reconsidered. “There is genuine debate about whether girls should feel a compulsion to wear a veil. We should be very cautious about imposing religious conformity on a society which has always valued freedom of expression.”

His comments came days after one of the biggest further education colleges, where 43 per cent of the 35,000 students are from non-white ethnic groups, backed down on an eight-year ban on niqabs and burkas. A complaint by a prospective student at Birmingham Metropolitan College led to an online petition that attracted over 9,000 signatures – and the school reversed its ban to allow facial coverings with “cultural values”.

The matter is garnering political momentum. Philip Hollobone, Tory MP for Kettering, has proposed a private member’s Bill that would make it an offence for a person to wear “a garment or other object” intended to obscure their face. Backing his proposal is Dr Sarah Wollaston, MP for Totnes. Writing in this newspaper yesterday, she described veils as “deeply offensive”.

Official guidance on facial coverings in schools – from the niqab, a veil in which the eyes are visible, to the burka, a full body veil in which the eyes are covered by mesh – was updated last year. Though the Department for Education has conspicuously avoided legislation, it backs heads who ban veils “on the grounds of health, safety and the protection of the rights and freedoms of others”.

Striking the right balance – between an outright ban and leaving the issue to the discretion of schools – is a delicate job. If senior politicians are struggling to agree, young Muslims are finding the spotlight cast on their religious garb even more perplexing.

“What scares me is that if the ban goes through, next time it will be the headscarf,” says Hana Amin, 17, a student from London. “I understand that teachers need to see your face. But people should be allowed to wear it outside the classroom.”

Nomann Hussein, 17, a business studies student at Birmingham Metropolitan College, didn’t think there had been a problem. “If the headmistress had come into school in a tube top they wouldn’t have allowed that – so why the veil? The people who signed the petition said the ban was racist, but it was a security thing. I don’t agree with it anyway. In Islam, it was only the prophet’s wife who covered her face. It’s not required by religion.”

Controversy is compounded by the rise in young people in Britain who wear the niqab, burka or hijab (headscarf). Ballooning immigration has combined with the increasing prominence of Islamic culture. Muslim commentators have noted that the wearing of the veil, which originated in the Byzantine Empire and spread throughout the Arab world after the rise of Islam in the seventh century, declined in the Forties and Fifties. Its resurgence in the Eighties coincided with the rise of Western feminism, and the same ideas – of taking control of their body and appearance – inspired Muslim women to cover their faces.

Religious experts also point out worrying evidence that some young British Muslims have lost touch with Islamic scholarship, coming under the influence of extremist imams, who enforce the wearing of veils. In response to the threat posed by such extremism, France became the first European country to ban the burka in public in 2011, and was closely followed by Belgium. Italy, Switzerland and the Netherlands plan to follow suit.

Now public opinion in Britain is swinging. A recent YouGov poll of 2,205 adults found that 67 per cent supported a complete sanction on wearing the burka. Proponents of a ban say schools in multicultural areas are calling out for clear restrictions on facial coverings, which, they argue, can impede learning, socialising and jeopardise an institution’s security policy.

But schools and colleges that allow students to wear burkas and niqabs say they have had no problems. Adrian Quester, head of communications at City of Westminster College, which has a 20 per cent Muslim population, says: “ We allow them to have two ID cards – one showing their face and one with the niqab. We’ve never had any issue with religious hate crimes.”

Anab Ali, 18, a medical science student at the college, wears a hijab and says she has never encountered any difficulties. “Last year there was a student who wore the niqab and there was no problem. She was very sociable. During class, the teacher might want to see your face so I think you should have to take it off then.”

Rebekah Westgate, assistant principal at BSix Brooke House Sixth Form College in Clapton, north-east London, where around 50 students wear the full veil, says her policy respects the diversity of the students. “I can see that in a younger student body, where facial expressions play more of a role in communication, coverings might be a problem. But ours are young adults. The teachers are used to it. When they enrol or take an exam, we check their identity by taking them into another room with a female member of staff so they can lift their veil.”

At Birmingham Metropolitan College, several students stuck up for the original ban. “I don’t think it’s fair that you can’t see their faces, for safety reasons,” said business and law student Ellie Crossingham, 18.

Judges have tended to rule against students claiming their right to cover their faces. The landmark case was in 2007, when a High Court judge rejected a bid by a 12-year-old pupil in Buckinghamshire to be allowed to wear the niqab in class. Yesterday, defendant Rebekah Dawson, 22, was denied permission to wear a veil while giving evidence in court.

If a government edict is not forthcoming, Quester suggests consulting those whom a ban would affect most: the students. “They have grown up in a multicultural society. They are accepting of different cultures, religions and ways of dressing. If they don’t wear a veil, they’re likely to know or be friends with someone who does.”